This invention relates to puppets, and more specifically, to finger manipulated puppets.
The prior art has displayed a variety of puppet forms, the most common of which fits the entire hand of a user. Such puppets are generally rather expensive to construct, both because of the materials involved, the typical size of the puppets, and the complexity of their manufacture. This has limited the applicability of puppets for many applications, such as low-cost, high volume advertising use.
One of the primary difficulties with such hand puppets, that is, puppets in which the index and thumb of the user are manipulated to open and close the mouth of the puppet, is a typical requirement that the mouth be urged both toward an open and closed position with the index finger and thumb. This requires, in turn, some type of structure which encircles the hand, or at least the thumb and index finger of the user. These puppets also are relatively complex and thus relatively expensive to manufacture.
The prior art has not produced a puppet which is extremely inexpensive to manufacture, which is simple to manipulate, and which may be simply placed between the index finger and the thumb of the operator for manipulation without otherwise attaching it to the hand of the user.